Birmingham Family Donates $10 Million To University Of Alabama

TUSCALOOSA, AL — A Birmingham family foundation has donated $10 million to the University of Alabama's College of Communication and Information Sciences. The Holle Family Foundation's gift is the largest single donation received by the department.

Pending approval by the UA Board of Trustees, the gift will establish the Holle Center for Communication Arts, an interdisciplinary center in C&IS, according to a Birmingham Business Journal report.

"The Holle name is synonymous with leaders in creativity and communication at the Capstone," said Mark Nelson, dean of C&IS. "As the cornerstone of the Holle legacy, the Holle Center will distinguish itself nationally as a highly visible interdisciplinary platform that builds capacity for critical thinking, engenders empathy and prepares students to be active and engaged citizens capable of succeeding in any career path in the context of the digital age."

The donation will also establish the Holle Endowed Chair of Communication Arts, enhance existing space to house the Holle Center for Communication Arts, provide permanent program support for the C&IS Hall of Fame and the Holle Awards for Excellence and Creativity in Communication and enhance the Everett Hughes Holle Endowed Scholarship.

Brig. Gen. Everett Hughes Holle, who retired from the military in 1985, had a 40-year career in the Birmingham television industry at NBC 13. Holle died in 2017.

He was a member of the C&IS Board of Visitors. In 2015, he established the Holle Awards for Excellence and Creativity in Communication to celebrate and reward student achievement in the areas of book arts, filmmaking, media writing, public speaking and screenwriting. Each year, one recipient is selected in each of the five categories and is awarded $10,000.